1 Team Distribution by Conference (2024 Season)

1.1 Interpretation: Team Distribution Across Conferences (2024–25 Season)

This bar chart summarizes the number of teams in each Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) conference for the 2024–25 season. The distribution is trimodal, with 12, 14, and 16 teams each appearing more than once. The range of team counts goes from 2 teams (Pac-12) to 18 teams (Big Ten), and the FBS Independents have 3 teams. A typical range for conference sizes is between 10 and 16 teams, where most conferences fall.

The Big Ten, with 18 teams, and the Pac-12, with just 2 teams, appear outside this typical range. The Big Ten’s growth aligns with its competitive dominance, having produced the last two national champions: Michigan (2023–24) and Ohio State (2024–25). The small size of the Pac-12 reflects its recent decline and effective dissolution.

2 Distribution of Team Ranking by College Football Conferences from the 2024-25 season

2.1 Interpretation: Team Rankings by Conference (2024–25 Season)

This chart shows how team rankings are distributed across FBS conferences, grouped into four categories: 1–5, 6–10, 11–15, and Outside Top 15. Among the top five teams, 60% belong to the Big Ten and 40% to the SEC, showing a strong concentration of elite teams within just two conferences. The SEC continues to dominate the 6–15 range, while the ACC and FBS Independents contribute the remaining ranked teams.

Most teams—119 out of 139—fall outside the Top 15, highlighting the uneven distribution of top rankings across conferences. No Group of Five teams appear in the Top 15, reinforcing the competitive gap between the Power Five and other FBS programs. The Pac-12 is absent altogether, a reflection of its recent decline and dissolution.

3 Distribution of offense.ranking across the categories of conference by College Football Conferences from the 2024-25 season

3.1 Interpretation: Offensive Rankings by Conference (2024–25 Season)

This boxplot compares offensive rankings (where lower is better) across FBS conferences for the 2024–25 season. The y-axis is inverted, so stronger offenses appear higher on the chart.

The SEC shows the best overall offensive performance, with the highest median ranking, followed by the Big 12. However, the Big 12 also includes an outlier ranked well beyond 100, which stretches its distribution. In contrast, the Big Ten and Sun Belt have lower medians, suggesting weaker offenses on average, though some standout teams are present.

The SEC, Big 12, and American Athletic Conference have boxplots with longer lower tails, indicating a right-skewed distribution—a few teams performed poorly, but most did well. The Big Ten and Sun Belt appear left-skewed, driven by a few top-performing offenses in otherwise weaker groups. The ACC is more symmetrical, with its median near the center of the box, reflecting a more balanced distribution of team performance.

4 Scatter plot of defense.rating and ranking across the categories of conference by College Football Conferences from the 2024-25 season

4.1 Interpretation: Relationship Between Defense Rating and Overall Ranking (2024–25 Season)

This scatter plot illustrates the relationship between defensive rating and overall team ranking across FBS conferences for the 2024–25 season. Defensive ratings range from 9.2 to 43.8, while rankings span from 1 (highest-ranked) to 134 (lowest-ranked).

There is a positive linear association between the two variables: as defensive rating increases (indicating weaker defensive performance), ranking values also increase (indicating worse overall team performance). This trend suggests that teams with stronger defenses (lower ratings) tend to earn better rankings, highlighting the critical role of defensive efficiency in overall success.

Within the top 20 teams, the distribution is dominated by Power Five conferences, especially the SEC and Big Ten, followed by a smaller presence from the ACC and even fewer from the Big 12. This pattern underscores the competitive strength and sustained dominance of Power Five programs in national rankings.